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| - I have dined at the original Zen location in Scarborough and was excited to hear about their move and the push to even more authenticity in the cuisine. I finally got to try the Markham location (give them a year to iron out any bugs...) and was very impressed. Gone are the bento boxes and gaijin McSushi Rolls (in Markham, walk 10 metres in any direction and you'll find those), instead is a much smaller menu of totally authentic Japanese dishes. It appears Zen is taking a page out of the Sushi Kaji playbook, by offering a curiously similar Kaiseki dinner for $135 (I'll definitely return and try it).
I went with the $65 Omakase Sushi, and if you want to order this, make sure to reserve a spot at the bar. At the previous location the bar was much smaller so I would have this at a table, which meant they would make all the sushi pieces, assemble them on a plate, and deliver them all at once. At the bar each piece will be served immediately after it's been made, as it should be. You will not need to dunk sushi in soy sauces (which you do at the tables) since the chef brushes on the right amount of sauce on each piece before delivery. A more impressive touch, for some pieces, after brushing on the sauce, a very light dusting of lemon rind (finely grated) was added, the acidity from the lemon oil helping the vinegary rice and the soy sauce balance out the fish. Also, each piece was seasoned which just enough wasabi. Again, all about balance. Just eat each piece at once, then take a small slice of pickled ginger for a palate cleanser, then await the next piece. Omakase sushi at its authentic best. No mixing up nasty Yoda sauce here.
My dining partner (who is not a fan of raw fish) went with three cooked dishes from the appetizer menu, the tempura, kuro-ton (breaded pork cutlet), gindara saikyo (black cod with miso). I sampled some of these and found them to be excellent. If you've had these at Chinese run AYCE places, there's no comparison. This will amaze you. Even though they no longer offer the gaijin dishes (see above) members of your party who don't like real sushi will not be disappointed. This was one of the complaints I read here soon after the move to Markham, and it appears they boosted the cooked apps selection to satisfy such diners without having to sell out to the Chinese Monster Truck McSushi-rolls/teppanyaki/bento/AYCE crowd. This was a pleasant surprise for my partner who did not go in with a positive expectation but left satisfied.
There's no longer a need to travel to a seedy part of Scarborough or all the way to the wilds of Etobicoke (or pay a small fortune at Hashimoto) for an amazing, authentic Japanese dinner. Take your gaijin friends and family here to show them what real Japanese food is about. One meal at Zen and hopefully they won't crave McRolls, Benihana, or the latest Groupon deal anymore.
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